Lost on the Road of Life
by Girl of Smarts
Summary: A battle at the Valley of the End shook one nation to its core before and it has done it again. Now its one boy against the world, and he doesn't even know it yet. First fic with lemons in later chapters. *POLL IN PROFILE, PLEASE VOTE*
1. Chapter 1

Lost on the Road of Life

"Talking"

_'Thinking'/Flashback_

Okay, here's the new one. This story is a slightly Alternate Universe, and will be for quite a while. Not a crossover this time, sorry to those that like em'. On that note, I would like to make clear I don't know all that happened in this episode- I missed most of it when it aired.

**WARNING:** Horrible Google translations used in this chapter. It gives me different ones depending on if I capitalize the words or not and some just don't look right. If I can find the correct translation at leafninja (.com) I'll use Google.

_(Horrible Translation)_: Every translation possible is in here.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. -sadness-

Chapter 1: Distance

In a place known as the Shuumatsu no tani _(Valley of the End)_, two boys were currently dishing out all the pain they had on each other. This fight, not unlike many they had, had started for not so good reasons. One determined to desert his village, the other to smack some sense into him.

In the left corner: Uchiha Sasuke- genius, sole survivor of his clan, Konoha's pride and joy-the deserter.

In the right corner: Uzumaki Naruto- dead last, hyperactive knucklehead, Konoha's resident jinchuuriki _(Power of a human sacrifice)_- the janitor. Its only fitting, considering he picks up after everyone's messes. The most current being Sasuke's decision to run off to Orochimaru the traitor Hebi Sannin _(Snake, Legendary Three Ninjas)_.

Anyway, both clearly did not look themselves at this point, having gone through freaky power ups like those in the manga _(Comics)_ Naruto liked reading. Sasuke's cursed seal has reverted to its second stage giving him a makeover in the likeness of his ancestor's statue he was under. Minus the wings of course. Naruto's silhouette has been covered by Kyuubi's _(Nine- tailed fox)_ red chakra giving him a fox-shaped cloak of energy. Unfortunately for both of them, power-ups are always pretty taxing; it was time to wrap this up.

Each began charging power for their last attack. Even with a waterfall in the background, the silence was deafening. All of their focus poured into one final strike. They sprang.

"**CHIDORI!"** _(Chirping of 1000 birds)_

"**RASENGAN!"** _(Spiraling Sphere)_

The two jutsu _(Technique(s))_ crashed together, both equal and trying to overpower the other. Energy given off by them swirled around creating a black dome of chakra. It leaked foul energy into the atmosphere.

000oooo000

Hatake Kakashi, the two dueling boys' sensei _(Teacher)_ had forgone the orders given by the Hokage _(Fire Shadow)_ and left the village to search for his pupils.

"Kakashi, look!" cried his summon dog, Pakkun.

He looked to see a dark aura in the sky, coming from near the border of Hi no Kuni _(Land of Fire)_and Ta no Kuni _(Land of Rice Fields)_. Tanbo is where Otogakure no Sato _(Villiage Hidden in the Sound) _was located.

_'I have a bad feeling about this...' _Kakashi thought as he and Pakkun raced toward source hoping to get there before it was too late. _'Among many times in the past.'_

000oooo000

All around Konohagakure no Sato _(Village Hidden in the Leaves)_ news was buzzing left and right. The mission to retrieve Sasuke has now been heard by everybody in the village, thanks to it's number one gossip queen, Yamanaka Ino. Except all was not well with Ino, as she saw one of her teammates that had been on the mission- Akimichi Chouji- rushed to the emergency room in critical condition. There in the hospital with her other teammate, Nara Shikamaru, and a Sunagakure _(Village Hidden in the Sand)_ kunoichi, _(female ninja)_ Temari, they watched one-by-one how the others filed in.

Hyuuga Neji, also in danger of dying, Inuzuka Kiba showed up slung over Kankuro's shoulders exhausted and wounded. Akamaru was already taken to Kiba's sister for treatment. Gaara passed Rock Lee off to the medical staff at the door. Both were exhausted but Gaara refused treatment.

Temari and Kankuro walked up to him. He looked around the hospital lobby and asked his siblings "...Where is Uzumaki Naruto?"

Shikamaru gave a start. He said "Naruto and Sasuke are the only ones who haven't shown up yet. He's still out there..."

Maybe...just maybe, there was some hope for this mission after all.

000oooo000

Meanwhile inside the sphere of chakra, Naruto and Sasuke were still in a deadlock. That soon ended though, as Sasuke soon changed his target and, for the second time, shoved the remainder of the Chidori into Naruto's chest.

"Nngh!" It wasn't enough to pierce his skin but it was a hard enough punch to break a rib or two. The rasengan fizzled away. Naruto used the last of his strength to scratch Sasuke's hitai-ite. It went through the Konoha symbol- the mark of a rouge ninja.

The two boys just kind of stared at each other for a moment, flashbacks to when they were younger running through their heads. Naruto felt his strength fading fast. _'Where did it all go wrong? Why Sasuke?'_

**On the outside**

The black sphere began to crack in the middle, a white light breaking it apart from the center. Then, the energy imploded and produced a backlash that sent the two flying. Sasuke landed on the ground, curse seal transformation over, and unable to move. Naruto was not so lucky, sent flying into the statue of the Shodaime Hokage _(First Hokage)_ before a chunk fell out, falling into the river and taking him with it. As water filled his vision and lungs Naruto struggled to get back to the surface. It was no use however, and he was swept away.

Looking from the top of a cliff was a plant with eyes! _'Pein-sama is not going to be happy about this...'_

**With Sasuke**

A heavy rain had begun to fall on Sasuke as he laid unmoving on the rocks.

_'Chikuso, move! I need to-'_ Sasuke's thoughts were halted as Kakashi stepped into his view from the ground.

"Boy, you are in deep trouble." commentator: Pakkun.

000oooo000

Shikamaru was not a happy camper. This mission was an epic FAIL. All members were injured, 2 close to dying, 1 not even assigned to the mission was hurt, 1 was still missing in action, and they had to call in back-up to _just_ be in this state. Having only broken a pinkie himself, well, needless to say he was pretty- well I don't like cursing, but I'm sure you can imagine.

The sensei's, and teammates of the respective patients had come in already. Anxiety could be felt throughout the lobby and quite frankly, it was getting on everyone's last nerve. Finally when it seemed someone was about to snap, they got a break. The light in the emergency room went off and Tsunade walked out. Everyone looked up.

"Hokage-sama how are they?"

"They should all be fine now. Kiba is resting, Neji will have to be monitored for his health for a while but is resting fine out of surgery on his shoulder. Chouji had extreme chakra exhaustion thanks to those curry pills. If we hadn't gotten the new antidote when we did..."

Shikamaru and Ino were crying in relief. "He has lost a lot of body mass though," she continued "he should be hungry in a few days when he wakes up."

Nara Shikaku, who was there to give the antidote to Tsunade, was also relieved-he could tell his best friend his son had survived. However he knew that the time to celebrate had not come yet. "Hokage-sama..."

"...I know." Tsunade had a hard time trying to keep the worry off her face. As far as she was concerned there was only one person still missing(Sasuke could rot for all she cared).

Just then Kakashi came in...

Carrying Sasuke on his back...

"...I sorry Hokage-sama... I was too late."

000oooo000

To anyone walking along the Sotogawa no hodō _(Outer Trail) _the wheels of a cart could be slightly heard over the thunder in the sky. This cart belonged to but a simple farmer, Daichi, and his wife Chika, just ordinary people on their way home from selling produce. They had gotten quite far away from the nearest post town when a freak heavy rainstorm appeared. Hastening their steps, they went quickly to either find shelter in the town across the Sawa no Kuni border _(Land of Swamps)_.

To get there, they had to cross the river that stemmed from Shuumatsu no Tani into Ta. Coming across the bridge they saw it had been destroyed. The rainstorm had caused the river to overflow and the heavy water broke the bridge when it flooded.

"What should we do? The rain is getting worse and now-" The wind cut Chika off from saying anymore.

"Just hang on maybe there will be shelter somewhere near..."

Noticing her husband had stopped talking, she tried to see what was wrong, but couldn't see through the rain. "What is it?"

Daichi said nothing, slowly easing away from the cart towards the riverbank. "What are you doing?" his wife half-asked, half-screamed. Thunder sounded loudly in the sky startling their horse something awful.

"There is something on the bridge! Stay by the horse!" He shouted getting closer. True enough, there was something caught in the wreckage- something orange. Getting closer he saw hand holding on to a board. Now realizing someone was in danger he hurried over, still being careful mind you. He lifted one wooden board and another and was shocked. It was a young boy, bleeding and broken as bad as that bridge.

Never had he seen such a sad sight. Obviously he assumed the boy was dead and began walking away. However still close enough to hear "..el..p. he..lp."

Rushing back over he was startled to see bright blue eyes trying desperately to stay open.

"Hold on, I've got you!" As he lifted the boy in his arms he noticed that there were more bloodstains than holes in his body. Daichi wasn't too sure if that was a good thing but he couldn't just leave him there. So he brought the boy back to his wife at the cart- the rainstorm mysteriously letting up.

"...A boy?" Chika gasped when she saw the condition he was in. "How could this have happened?"

"There's no time to figure that out, he's still alive but barely. We need to get back to Zenshō-machi _(Outpost town) _and find this boy a doctor!" With the rain calm enough to turn back, they did so and headed back into Ta no Kuni...where a certain someone was very pissed off for not getting his new vessel.

000oooo000

In Otogakure no Sato there was turmoil as their leader Orochimaru laid waste to his own ninja.

"INCOMPETENT!" he ranted.

"Orochimaru-sam-urk!" dead.

"WORTHLESS!" he raved.

"Please, be reaso-ack!" dead.

"FOOLS!" you see a pattern here right?

"Why punish us, we weren't on the mission!" ...You don't even want to know what happened to this guy.

"...Orochimaru-sama if I may,-!" Another shinobi _(male ninja)_ was sent flying right past Kabuto's head and crashed into the wall behind him.

"NO YOU MAY NOT! Five jonin _(Elite Ninja)_, five DEAD jonin couldn't bring to me one genin _(Beginner ninja)_. ONE!"

'_Granted, Kimimaro was about to die anyway...' _Kabuto thought.

"No GENIN should be able to beat FIVE JONIN!"

"The survey done on the area suggests they all split away from each other and Sasuke at some point."

"..."

"Orochimaru-sama?"

"All the years of planning...WASTED! Konoha isn't that foolish, I doubt that boy will be ever allowed back on the streets, even as a civilian."

"Why don't we just go get him if it's that much trouble?" asked the brother of the guy from earlier. He died much quicker.

"No one is any condition to be fighting Konoha, if we were I would have gone myself and we wouldn't be having this discussion. Any-MORE STUPID QUESTIONS!" yelling the last part for emphasis.

"None. Evidence shows Sasuke leaving to Shuumatsu no tani and was followed... by Uzumaki Naruto."

"So... you're telling me, that this is all that GAKI"S FAULT!" _(brat)_

Kabuto nodded, knowing when Orochimaru was in one of his moods no one better say anything lest they-

"Then we'll just go kill the kid bo-!" end up like him.

"Kabuto, I want the heads of ALL those boys on a silver platter."

"Hai." _(Yes)_

"..._And_ send a profile to the bingo book publisher, on Uzumaki Naruto, with _ALL_ the information." dun dun DUN!

_To be continu-_ KIDDING! Just kidding.

"Um... isn't that a little extreme, just for a genin?"

"...I am THIS close to killing you too. Need I remind who beat you? If that boy had more sense and experience you would be dead now. No, it is time to get rid of this menace before he ends up like..." Orochimaru trailed off in flashback but no one wants to see what's going on in his flashbacks.

"What are you still doing here? Submit that file NOW! Then you'll see why everyone on the continent is going to want a piece of him. Of course I get the head."

"Right away sir." Kabuto leaves.

_'Soon no one will be able to stand in my way!'_ "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

As Orochimaru continues with his maniacal laughter the only two guards left alive in the room look on at the strange sight.

"...Why do we serve him?"

"Two reasons. One, he'll kill us if we don't."

"True."

"And two...he's the only one for miles that pays for dental- you _need_ that if you're going to be a shinobi. I can't begin to count how many times I've had my teeth knocked out."

_To be Continued..._

_Next time: Chapter 2 Blue Bird_

AN: Seriously, you think these people haven't gotten their teeth knocked out in this business? It is highly recommended that you listen to the songs that is the chapter's name. They might come from Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any other anime if I feel the song fits. It will fit.

As far as countries go, there is no real complete map of the Naruto world. I am just taking country names I've heard and am sticking them on the map where I want. Swamp seemed likely to be there considering I put it next to Rice and Waterfall. Whole lot of water.

I won't be updating for about 1-2 weeks now. I' m surprised I already have as much up as I do. Wasn't planning on my second story for another month. This first chapter is a gift in hopes that you'll continue reading my stories even with this little break.

Read and Review- ALL my stories please!


	2. Chapter 2

Lost on the Road of Life

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...really think you should know this by now. All the Original Characters are mine though.

AN: Just want to address this before it's an issue, this is _**not a banishment story.**_ Also, to anyone I may have annoyed with these translations, they are only there for those that need them. Sorry if you are new to Naruto, you are just outa luck. I won't re-use translations in each chapter, makes it too repetitive. Feel free to skip them if you don't need them. Now I am seriously considering just doing the jutsu okay, alright.

"Talking"

_'Thinking'/Flashback_

_(Translations)_

Chapter 2: Bluebird

The kind strangers that had picked Naruto off the road had made it back to the nearest town in Ta no Kuni. Daichi and Chika were unpleasantly shocked to see there was no hospital for at least 10 miles inward. They wondered how the people survived with no medical attention. Obviously very poorly from what they could see, a lot like how the rest of Rice Field Country was doing.

Daichi, being a farmer for one of the great countries, was in the good graces of a lot of people in this country because it was so poor to anyone but ninja. Food was welcomed and his best customers included members of the Fuuma clan, or at least the part that stayed there. Daichi and his wife brought Naruto, but the only person available at the moment was a girl about his age- Fuuma Sasame. She welcomed them to stay while her other clan members were away.

000oooo000

~Back in Konoha~

For over a week there has been search parties scouring over the Valley of the End to search for Naruto. Usually they were sponsored by his friends, considering they were mostly heirs/heiresses to their clans with money to spare that the rest of the village didn't. However their best trackers were turning up empty handed all saying the same thing- the scent ends at the valley's river. They were not allowed to search beyond Fire Country borders, and that instance was beginning to cause a lot of headaches for Tsunade.

Between her advisers, the multiplying number of missions ending in failure among the young generation, and finding a viable excuse for the daimyo, she was ready to blow. As it stands, things had nearly reached their boiling point, and with the latest issue of the bingo book, the pot finally boiled over.

"WHAT IS THIS!" resounded a scream that was heard all across the village.

Shizune came barreling in through the doors of her office, "Tsunade-sama what is it!", quickly scanning the room for any trouble.

"Look at this!" Tsunade shouted thrusting the book into Shizune's hands.

She gasped. "Orochimaru has listed everyone that was sent to retrieve Sasuke in the bingo book! Isn't that a little extreme? They _are_ just genin."

"NO Shizune, the last page!" she quickly flipped through the new section to stop short at the list of a-ranked ninja still affiliated with their village.

_Name: Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto_

_Village Affiliation: Konoha_

_Rank: A_

_Identifiable Jutsu: Kage Bunshin(B-rank kinjutsu), Gama-Kuchiyose(Toad summoning), Rasengan (A-rank jutsu)_

_Description: 4'9" 13 year old blond male genin. 3 distinctive "whisker marks" on each cheek._

_WARNINGS: ONLY son of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage. Jinchurikki of the Kyuubi no Yoko._

_Reward: 5,000,000 ryo for head. Return to Oto bounty collection office._

"..." was all Shizune could say.

Sadness and anger then fury ripped through Tsunade's heart at this. As if she doesn't have enough problems! Notice how he conveniently fails to mention Naruto's genin status. A prime target to anyone with bounty-hunting experience indeed. _'I can't believe he would name a genin an a-ranked ninja in the first plac...oh crap.'_

"That bastard! He is banking on that they'll see he's like-"

-knock-knock-

_'If we're quiet maybe they'll go away.'_

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune hissed.

-KNOCK-

"Damn it Shizune! The damn doors' open, come in already-No go back out! This has nothing to do with either of you, I don't want to hear it!" Tsunade shouted when she saw her advisers Koharu and Homura walk in the door.

"Tsunade-"

"It is imperative that you-"

"No, leave now! I am the leader, you are the advisers, you do what _I_ say!"

"Why-"

"OUT!" she slammed the door in their faces.

Shizune was giving her a weird look.

"THAT has been a long time coming. From day one all I got was complaints about my competence. They think they can run this village in their own! If that's the case why'd they send Jiraiya after me in the first place!" (They are not totally evil in this story but that does not mean I have to like them.) "I am sick of them! Shizune!"

She snapped out of her reverie. "Lady Tsunade!"

"Go and call the clan heads whose sons were on that mission, Hiashi too. They need to be informed of this."

"Right away!"

"Oh and Shizune, run down to the hot springs and get Jiraiya. If he's not here within five minutes, I'll make a repeat of what happened twenty years ago."

"...O-okay." Shizune shut the door on the way out.

First she had that Uchiha brat's trial to deal with, then Naruto's disappearance, now she had to tell a bunch of genin they were being listed in a book meant for criminals and people you would never want to go to war with. On top of all that one of the biggest kept secrets in the Konoha was just leaked to the entire bounty-hunting, grudge-holding, mostly Yondaime-hating members of the world!

It's just one problem after another. The only bit of good news was that Orochimaru still thinks Naruto is in Konoha. But now he and half of the world are going to be looking for him too. Right now Tsunade wanted nothing more than to find Orochimaru and just-

000oooo000

"WRING HIS SCRAWNY LITTLE NECK!"

Meanwhile in Iwagakure, all the shinobi and civillans alike were having a field day. That bastard Yondaime had taken out a chunk of his forces in the Third Great Shinobi War that they were still trying to replenish and then had the gall to go and die afterward! But now, now they knew he had a son!

Iwagakure was a mostly male shinobi village, so every wife that lost their husband in the war was demanding his head. If they couldn't be happy, neither would he!

Shinobi were thinking: certainly no one would be so foolish as to pass up the opportunity to strike at one of Konoha's future legends _before_ they become a problem.

Now Oonoki was a very short, very stubborn old man, but he hadn't been Tsuchikage for so long without having a trace of common sense. This meaning he had his doubts about the whole situation. _'How had such information gotten out only recently, and what is this going to cost us in the future?' _Orochimaru was a dangerous man to be dealing with, directly or indirectly.

000oooo000

Naruto awoke to the sound of birds chirping somewhere nearby. _'Ugh...What happened to me?'_ Naruto thought groggily. He opened his eyes only to shut them again away from the sunlight shining through the window across from him. Naruto groaned, trying to sit up but hands belonging to an unfamiliar voice pushed him back down.

"Take it easy. Just yesterday we were beginning to wonder if you would ever wake up."

Naruto opened his eyes again trying to focus on the moving mass of orange in front of him. When his vision cleared, he could see that the orange blob was actually a pretty girl. His face felt hot all of a sudden.

"That is amazing, there's not a single scar!" she continued checking over him, never noticing the deepening blush on his cheeks.

_'What is she doing in my room? Wait, this isn't my room!' _Naruto thought frantically. "Where am I...and who are you?" he asked.

The girl was startled but had the decency to look sheepish. If she had woken up in a strange place with an even stranger person looking them up and down she would have decked them first and asked questions later.

"My name is Fuuma Sasame...you are in my clans medical ward, what is your name?"

"Naruto...What is the Fuuma clan?"

She gave him a strange look. "You're not from around here are you? Where is it, inland, or maybe Sawa no kuni?"

_'Swamp?' _"No...I'm from-"

-SLAM-

Voices drifted in from down the hallway-angry voices. Sasame figured her clanmates had come back. She didn't quite know what to do when she saw Naruto sitting up.

"Stay here, don't move or make any noise. I'll be back in a minute."

"Bu-"

"Shh." she left, leaving a very confused Naruto behind wondering _'How did I get here, and where is Iruka-sensei?'_

000oooo000

"Hanzaki-nii?" Sasame called walking near the front. (AN: Not really her brother, more like their leader.)

"Sasame, why didn't you send us a message that there was another sale from Iwa? You know they give us the best deals. We need all the food we can get for this clan!"

"What?," then she remembered the farmers who had brought Naruto in. "Oh yeah, um, I didn't think you would be gone long enough to miss them." not completely lying.

"Whatever, don't let it happen again, we have enough problems around here without our own clan members adding to the list." he walked back out the front door.

"Well geez, that was harsh." came a voice from behind her.

"AHH!," she saw Naruto standing there, "What are you doing! I told you to stay in the room! How are you even standing much less walking?"

"I got bored. Besides, why should I stay behind, I'm not the one who's hurt it's-" Naruto paled. "Iruka-sensei! Where is he, and Mizuki-teme!" he shouted scaring Sasame half to death.

"Who?"

"What do you mean 'who is Iruka-sensei'! If you've graduated you should know already! I hope you graduated, you look older than I do..."

"Oi! I do not, and there was no one named 'Iruka-sensei' with you!" Getting irritated and confused, she pulled him back out of the hallway.

"...This is no time to be messing around with me lady, this is serious!"

"Well I'm sorry but you were alone when that couple found you..."

"What couple?"

"...What is today's date?"

"It's the 14th of December...Maybe you were held back with me..."

Sasame didn't notice his questioning of her academic capabilities. If she asked anyone else that question, they would have say it was September. The only logical explanation is:

"...You have amnesia."

000oooo000

Back in Konoha now and things were getting no better. The clan heads did not take kindly to being told their sons faces were posted by the snake sannin **before** their careers were in good standing. Sasuke's hearing had come and gone, the final decision being he was sentenced to prison for 10 years. Even if he is released early there was no chance of him ever being a shinobi again.

That's right, no blaming the curse seal for this mess. Tsunade was fed up with the bullshit and she made sure the Uchiha-gaki got just what anyone else would deserve. Actually, he did get better treatment. He was just lucky she didn't have him executed like any other traitor.

Although now, the ever-shifting tide of problems were swelling full force. While Konoha has no idea where Naruto may be, everyone else thinks they do. That's good news, considering the last thing Tsunade needed was anyone finding out they couldn't keep track of their genin.

_'Unfortunately with spies like Kabuto around, I could bet and win that Orochimaru knows he's not in the village. Though, if Orochimaru seems to think he's alive, he doesn't know where...we might stand a chance of finding him first.'_

000oooo000

"...Come again?"

"You have amnesia, you've lost your memory." Sasame thought incredulously _'All of those injuries, and all he has is memory loss! At least he remembers his name...I hope this isn't permanent, he can't stay here much longer.'_

She had already asked Daichi and Chika not to mention his being here around her clan-mates. They did not take kindly to strangers-whether they were with "friends" or not.

Meanwhile, Naruto couldn't believe what he had heard.(AN: That's a first!) If this was true, about a year of his life had gone by and he couldn't remember a minute of it. Suddenly, his mind backtracked to what it did remember. _'Where is!...'_ This time he stopped himself before he freaked out and did the reasonable thing.

"Where am I exactly?"

"You are in Ta no Kuni. A couple of farmers found you washed down the river."

"What was I doing there!" He half-asked, half-shouted.

"Shh! Keep your voice down, my family doesn't know you're here. As for why you were there, obviously you had been in a fight and got you're ass kicked very badly."

"Hey!"

"Unless you get your memory back, we'll never know for sure." Sasame started thinking about what was going to happen to the kid. He wouldn't make it out of the country now without a passport, which he obviously doesn't have- anymore at least.

_'He certainly can't stay here. Maybe...' _Listen, your amnesia's not that bad, so it might be temporary. Can you remember where your from? If your hitai-ite wasn't so banged up I might have recognized it's symbol, but I don't."

"..." Naruto was silent. Sure he remembered, and with all that's happened he didn't want to take any chances. At least wanting to be polite to the person that helped him he nodded.

Sasame was waiting for him to say where, but saw she probably wasn't going to get an answer. She decided to change the subject. "You're a ninja right? Do you know how to get back if I give you a map?"

"...You'd just let me go?"

"I haven't been ordered to kill you, so I don't see why I shouldn't." She never liked unnecessary violence. That was for the rest of the Fuuma.

Naruto tried weighing his options. He was in a foreign country, that obviously had a ninja village. Ninja that would unlikely be like Sasame and would kill him for trespassing. That, and he was never too good with maps in the first place, if he left he'd get lost. If he stayed, Sasame's family would throw him out (AN: Always being optimistic.) then with no money or anywhere to go, he'd starve to death! (AN: NOT!) What else happened that night? What if Konoha already thought he was dead, or a traitor for stealing the forbidden scroll and he had just been living in obscurity for a year?

'_If that's true then...I can't go back, but then what- ARG! Why is this so difficult? This is why I hate thinking!' _"Is there anyway for me to go without getting into trouble?"

"Well..."

_~Later~_

Sasame had been thinking he should leave with the people that brought him there. Their cart-now empty- could hold him while they pass the border. Deciding this plan was better than no plan, that's what they went with. Now Daichi, Chika, and Naruto were heading out of Ta.

A door slid open to the room Sasame was currently in. A clan-mate that shall-not-be-named came in with a message.

"A meeting is to be held at the base of the mountain for all enabled ninja in thirty minutes."

She sighed. Just enough time to get there. _'Hanzaki-nii, why do you always have to do things so last minute?'_

000oooo000

Arriving at the temple that was stationed there Sasame saw her clans' available ninja already there and they seemed to be just talking amongst themselves.

_'At least this time they didn't start without me...' _she came closer to join them and they all quieted down as the meeting began.

"Listen up! At last, we have a chance to restore our family's name to it's former glory! For once Orochimaru has done something beneficial for us. He has put out a death warrant for for a ninja that can most likely be found here in Ta no Kuni. The price for his head is just what we need. Now, Oto shinobi are swarming the country as we speak trying to find this boy-"

"Boy?" Sasame inquired out loud.

"Yes- nothing but a kid, however he seems to be special enough to catch Orochimaru's attention. In any case, one boy should be more than enough for us to handle. The important thing now is to find him before they do. Then we'll be back on top, and even better, Orochimaru will owe us a favor!"

This was almost too good to be true. No, seriously, way too good. Sasame began to get a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Everyone come up and get your copy of the poster. Once you have, find your squad if you have one and get out of my sight! The more time you spend here, the further away this opportunity gets!" and with that he began passing out the flyers.

The bad feeling got worse, and when she received her own, it nearly overwhelmed her.

"Oh shit."

000oooo000

"Is there anywhere you have in mind to go?" Daichi asked Naruto as they traveled along.

"No... Wherever you're going is fine. Thanks by the way and sorry for your trouble."

"It was no trouble at all dear, we're just glad you're alright. You looked so awful when we found you." said Chika. "I'm sorry, but glad that you only lost your memory and not your life."

Naruto sighed. Thinking about that only made his head hurt. Maybe he would get his memories back later. Right now he was kind of antsy. Even though he had been apparently found in a river, as far as he recalled it was his first time outside Konoha.

"Where are we going anyway?"

"Our home is all they way in Tsuchi no Kuni. We still have quite a long ways to go so make yourself comfortable."

Naruto did so in the back of the cart. Looking up at the sky he saw a few birds flying across it. _'They sure are lucky...bet they don't need anywhere to go, they just go because they can.'_

_To be Continued_

_Next Time: Mosaic Kakera_

That's the new chapter. Hope you all like this one. I can't update for a while due to another paper...

So now Naruto is unknowingly heading straight into danger, yep. I had planned this story ahead of time, then just changed it at the last minute. So that means the title was no longer meant for this chapter. Since it's still a good song to listen to, I won't change it.

In a short while I will be posting a poll for this story's pairing. Naruto will NOT have a harem, choose only ONE girl! The poll will hopefully be in my profile, if not tell me who you think should be with him in a review. Here are the choices.

Sasame

Isaribi

Koyuki

Shion

Amaru

Only five choices so far, either a filler or movie character girl. If there is someone you wish to add to the list, pm or send a review and I will consider it.

Read and Review!


End file.
